Tommy DeVito took the shotgun snap and looked to his left, then swung his eyes right.

He picked up Nykeim Johnson, running behind his defender out of his slot alignment, toward the end zone. DeVito rifled a perfect ball over Johnson’s inside shoulder, straight into his hands as the sophomore receiver strode into the end zone.

As Johnson sprawled out, soaking in the adulation from the crowd, DeVito sprinted to him in the end zone, arms flailing as he ran. He’d entered the game for Eric Dungey with 5:07 left and Syracuse trailing by a touchdown. His 42-yard connection to Johnson tied the game with 1:39 left in regulation.

It was SU’s first touchdown in eight drives.

“It’s not a permanent change,” Babers said of the quarterback swap. “We needed a little spark, and obviously the other guy came in and did some things well.”

But DeVito provided more than Babers’ desired spark — he delivered a win out of a loss, and for that, he needs to be the starting quarterback when Syracuse (5-2, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) hosts North Carolina State (5-1, 2-1) in primetime this Saturday. When considering the present state of this Syracuse team, the fact that DeVito is the future at quarterback and how flat-out good he was Saturday, DeVito proved he deserves to stay under center for the time being.

SU didn’t trail because of Eric Dungey. His play wasn’t detrimental. But for the first time in a long time, maybe ever, it felt like Dungey, not poor offensive line play or a turnstile defense, held the Orange back. His 54 percent completion rate and one passing touchdown to three interceptions in the last three games is pedestrian.

On Saturday, after 55 minutes of dreary offense, Babers had seen enough.

“Sometimes you just change one character,” Babers said, “and it throws off the defense. I don’t know if it worked or not.”

It worked from the first play. DeVito came on and promptly delivered a 50-yard rainbow to Jamal Custis down the left sideline and followed it with three-straight completions. That drive didn’t end in a touchdown, but the next one did.

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After forcing a three-and-out, Syracuse received the ball at its 42 with 2:07 left. DeVito missed Taj Harris on first down. Then he connected over the middle with Sean Riley for 16 yards. One play later, he hit Johnson for the game-tying touchdown.

In the meager sample of DeVito this season — a shaky outing at Western Michigan, more than half a game in a drubbing of Florida State and against North Carolina — he’s not only shown he’s up to the task, but improving. After the Western Michigan game, Dungey’s job wasn’t in danger. An injury put DeVito in against the Seminoles, where he looked capable, going 11-for-16 for 144 yards and a passing touchdown.

With no restraints Saturday, DeVito, once a four-star recruit and Elite 11 finalist, offered a glimpse of the heralded passer that coaches and recruiters have raved about for years. And if that’s DeVito, if that’s his game and what he will do as a quarterback, he simply must play.

The ball explodes out of his hand and his throws are effortless. He had his best statistical performance, going 11-for-19 for 181 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Wide receivers say there’s no particular difference in catching passes from DeVito or Dungey.

“It felt kind of normal,” Custis said of DeVito replacing Dungey. “It might sound crazy, but playing with this guy every day in practice and watching him work hard during the summer. It felt kind of normal, it wasn’t really something surprising. We kind of knew that he could perform when his time was called and he did that. It was good for the team. It was kind of expected.”

DeVito continued to look crisp in overtime, firing a 25-yard strike to Custis for a touchdown in the first period. In the second, he confidently flipped a 4-yard pop pass to Ravian Pierce for the walk-off win.

From the second he threw the 50-yarder to Custis, DeVito showed instant confidence and a supreme arm — his deep balls are truly effortless. DeVito is every bit the natural passer he was billed as, and it showed in both play and outcomes.

Syracuse’s offense clicked down the field with ease with DeVito taking snaps — the Orange scored as many points (20) in DeVito’s 5:07 and two overtime drives as it had in the 55 minutes prior — but he not only came on and looked competent. DeVito passed Syracuse to a victory. He entered with a seven-point deficit and left with a three-point win in a game SU needed to have.

“I just felt like we needed to do something different,” Babers said. “I just felt like they had a little bit of a bead on us. And when I say us, it’s not on (Dungey), it’s what we’re doing.”

The point where DeVito has fully caught Dungey seems to be here, and the redshirt freshman has more room to grow.

It’s no secret who the starting quarterback next year is going to be, but when that guy is good enough to play and win now, it’s beneficial to not only the current team but future iterations to ride with DeVito at quarterback. With DeVito, Syracuse is the best team it can be in the present and improves itself for the future.

Syracuse releases a two-deep roster every Monday. Eric Dungey, from what Babers said, will still be the starter.

But after watching the comeback he led against North Carolina, it has to be DeVito.

Andrew Graham is a senior staff writer for The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at  [email protected] or @A_E_Graham on Twitter.

Published on October 21, 2018 at 12:18 pm

Contact Andrew: [email protected] | @A_E_Graham